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DOES PLANNING HAVE A FUTURE? [SH] At all stages of the ad process, outside researchers are seen as the best use of resources. Just how hard will planners have to work to justify their existence and are they tough enough to hold on to their territory? Emma

It’s mayhem out there. Rapidly accelerating technology, combined
with end-of-millennium chaos, has made the world an unpredictable place,
where the pace of change and the variety of possibilities are almost
unfathomable.

It’s mayhem out there. Rapidly accelerating technology, combined

with end-of-millennium chaos, has made the world an unpredictable place,

where the pace of change and the variety of possibilities are almost

unfathomable.

This is not the world that planners were born into when Stanley Pollitt

first delivered the concept in the late 60s. At that time, agency

researchers were mere back-room gurus, but Pollitt set them to work as

equal partners with the account managers, believing that research data

would be used much more effectively as a result.

Although the principle remains the same, the role of the planner in the

late 90s is being threatened from all sides. Twenty years ago, a planner

was the strategic brain for both agency and client, but account men and

marketers are now deemed to be better strategic thinkers, leaving the

traditional planner without a real point of difference.

Any planner will admit good planning is not their sole preserve. The old

baton-passing style - where the client briefs the account director, who

briefs the planner, who briefs the creatives - is too rigid to inspire

the originality, insight and flow of ideas needed to cut through in

today’s crowded market.

On top of this, clients, often sceptical about their agencies’

objectivity, are more frequently turning to consultancies to find

unbiased research and strategic input.

Planners are having to work hard to justify their existence and must

fight to hold on to their territory. The use of outside quantitative and

qualitative researchers at all stages of the advertising process is now

an accepted fact, and is generally agreed to be a better use of

resources all round. But planning directors are warning their staff not

to take this as an excuse to relinquish responsibility - by attending

groups, the planner can maintain some control over proceedings and

retain ownership of the thinking for the agency.

Just getting to the consumer is becoming a problem in itself, what with

the research group groupies who build a lifestyle around attending such

gatherings, and the public’s increasingly fickle approach to

consumption.

It is no longer enough just to listen to the consumer. Nigel Jones, the

head of planning at BMP DDB, says: ’The world is getting more complex

and it is up to planners to create a new vision. Today’s research is all

about keeping one step ahead - provoking and testing consumers, or

watching how they behave with a product. You look for ideas and

opportunities rather than answers.’

Jones points to the biggest challenge for planners today, encapsulated

in a statement made by Akio Morita, the chief executive of Sony

Corporation: ’Creating ideas is about looking for the unexpected and

stepping outside your experience ... The public does not know what is

possible, but we do.’

So instead of asking people what they want, planners now have to come up

with unique insights and new angles that will help creatives capture the

consumer’s imagination. And this is where the planner can create a real

difference in the advertising process, providing a unique and invaluable

input that leaves his or her validity beyond question.

In past decades, planning was about using research to uncover a ’truth’